Certification

How IT Pros Learn Online In 2021

Ethan Banks · 10 minutes to read

^{Published August 25, 2021 · Updated August 25, 2021}

I surveyed 53 IT professionals about online IT training in August 2021. Most of the folks I interact with are networking & cloud infrastructure professionals, and the answers reflect that. 53 responses isn’t enough to draw hard and fast conclusions from, but I still believe there are interesting trends & individual comments worth thinking about.

CCIE Recertification + Certification News 2015

Ethan Banks · 5 minutes to read

^{Published November 3, 2015 · Updated November 3, 2015}

The last time I re-certified, it took me three times to pass the CCIE R&S written exam. While that exam is a challenge that many people fail to pass the first time out, I felt like I was getting rusty on some fundamentals. Three times was not the end of the world, but the effort felt forced. I wanted a refresher.

Networking Books Up For Auction – Good Stuff Cheap

Ethan Banks · < 1 minute to read

^{Published June 22, 2015 · Updated June 22, 2015}

I’ve put several of my networking books up for auction on eBay. Lots of CiscoPress titles, but several others as well. Many design guides. Routing protocol coverage such as OSPF, including an OSPF vs ISIS guide by Jeff Doyle. Some are older, what I consider classics. Some are fairly new. Some are targeted at certification seekers. I need to clear some space here in my home library, and would like to move these titles along. Far too many books in my collection, and I’ve gotten what I can from these. Good luck!

Can You Still Get To The Top Climbing the Cisco Certification Ladder?

Ethan Banks · 3 minutes to read

^{Published March 19, 2015 · Updated March 19, 2015}

Should you go from the CCNA to the CCIE directly? Why or why not? Considering SDN, is going after the CCIE even a good idea? I opine.

What The Juniper Learning Portal Offers For Free

Ethan Banks · 4 minutes to read

^{Published November 10, 2014 · Updated November 10, 2014}

I’ve been working with Juniper SRX firewalls, MX routers, and EX switches for over a year now. I don’t spend a ton of time at the CLI. Mostly, I have some project I need to accomplish, so I do my homework, mock up in a lab what I’m able to, and wing the rest. Usually, that gets […]

Burst: Jeremy Filliben’s 2014 CCDE Bootcamp Schedule Posted

Ethan Banks · < 1 minute to read

^{Published December 6, 2013 · Updated December 6, 2013}

Followers of this blog may know that I attended Jeremy Filliben’s CCDE bootcamp in July 2013. You can find those blog posts here to read my thoughts on the bootcamp experience and how it translated into my approach to CCDE studies, which I’m still working on. I have a long way to go yet. Jeremy […]

Burst: CCIE Routing & Switching v5

Ethan Banks · 2 minutes to read

^{Published December 4, 2013 · Updated July 25, 2014}

The Cisco Learning Network has posted information about version 5 of the CCIE Routing & Switching program. Key Points If you’re in the version 4 program, 3-June-2014 is your last day to attempt the lab. IPv6 needs to be a part of your life now. As I looked over the blueprints, IPv6 is deeply enmeshed […]

CCDE Group Study KBase Site Is Up

Ethan Banks · 2 minutes to read

^{Published December 2, 2013 · Updated March 10, 2014}

I’ve built the framework for a CCDE knowledge base at design.packetpushers.net. The site uses the “KnowHow” theme designed for WordPress, which is very clean and makes it easy to organize information. There is very little actual content at the site yet. I have created several dozen articles that map to the CCDE 2.0 Written exam […]